WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A Purdue University graduate wants to make sure we dispose of no wine before its time.

Ryan Frederickson, founder of ArT Wine Preservation, has developed a method designed to keep wine in opened, unfinished bottles fresh for weeks by using argon gas to stop the oxidation process. The goal is to allow oenophiles to enjoy a glass of wine without feeling the need to finish the bottle quickly. Opened bottles can spoil in three days, depending on factors such as type, temperature and how it’s stored.

“Normally when people open a bottle of wine they have to commit to the five glasses in that bottle or it goes bad. Our wine preserver allows them to enjoy the bottle for a couple of weeks after they open it,” Frederickson said. “Our goal is to reduce the amount of wine poured down the drain each year in U.S. homes and restaurants because it has gone stale.”

Wine preservation is a growing industry, with some devices costing several hundred dollars. There also are various other methods of trying to preserve wine, including vacuum systems to extract oxygen from bottles, replacing oxygen in the bottle with nitrogen, and one company removes wine from the bottle without pulling the cork.

ArT Wine Preservation allows wine drinkers to spray a small amount of argon, a safe non-toxic, non-flammable inert gas, into a bottle of wine. Because argon is heavier than oxygen, it forms a blanket over the wine to prevent oxidation, sealing in the flavor and aroma. Wineries use argon to protect large vats of high-quality wine from oxidation before bottling.

Frederickson said his system is easy because a two-second spray keeps the wine fresh. A can costs less than $20, with discounts for buying multiple cans. Frederickson said homeowners will be able to preserve 40 to 50 bottles per can, which contain about 130 doses of argon.

“If you buy a four-pack it is less than a dime a use,” Frederickson said.

Frederickson, who graduated from Purdue in 2014 with a degree in chemical engineering, says the name of his company comes from argon technology, taking the Ar from the chemical element symbol for argon in the periodic table.

Potential consumers include people who enjoy drinking wine at home, restaurants and tasting rooms.

“Restaurants might be the most difficult market because they have such high turnover, and many aren’t aware that their wine is going bad,” Frederickson said. “Tasting rooms have shown a great interest in ArT Wine Preservation. They have so many bottles open on a given day, and they also know that three days later they can’t serve the wine that they’ve opened.”

Frederickson said he came up with the idea for ArT Wine Preservation when he was living alone after graduating from Purdue and wondering what he was going to do after opening a bottle of wine.

“I already design antioxidation systems, so I realized that could I just scale it down,” he said. “I found a manufacturer that wanted to work with me so I decided to do it.”

ArT Wine Preservation has received support from the Purdue Foundry, a commercialization accelerator in the Discovery Park’s Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, through workshops, entrepreneurial mentorship, helping him to focus on a successful business plan and with funding to gather data from potential customers.

ArT Wine is developing other products as it seeks investors and continues to grow.

“We’re asking our customers how we can make it better, and now we’re looking for capital to build the next step,” he said.

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry was named a top recipient at the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation and Awards Program by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry atfoundry@prf.org.